Unidirectional wire grinder of the dragged workpiece type and method



L. ILLMER UNIDIRECTIONAL wTRE GRINDER 0E THE DRAGGED woRKPIEcE TYPE AND METHOD sept. 3o, 1952 '7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed De. l, 1949 JNVENToR.

Sept. 30, 1952 l.. u LMER 2,612,004

` UNIDIRECTIONAL WIRE GRINDER OF THE DRAGGED woRKPIEcE TYPE AND METHOD 7 sheets-sheet '2 Filed Dec. l, 1349A IN VEN TOR.

Sept. 30, 1952 l.. lLLMl-:R

UNIDIRECTIONAL WIRE GRINDER OF' THE DRAGGED woRKPIEcE TYPE AND METHOD '7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Deb. l, 1949 IN V EN TOR.

Sept. 30, 1952 L. ILLMER UNIDIRECTIONAL WIRE GRINDER OF THE DRAGGED WORKPIECE TYPE AND METHOD '7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed nec. 1`, 1949 lllllllllllllllll .M m im.

Nw w mia- EM INVENTOR.

Sept. 30, 1952 IL LMER UNIDIREQTIONAL WIRE GRINDER oF THE DRAGGED woamm TYPE AND METHOD 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Dec. l, 1949 Sept. 30, 1952 l.. ILLMER UNIDTEECTTONAL WIRE GRINDER' 0E THE DRAGGED woRxPIEcE TYPE AND METHOD 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed Dec. l, 1949 m. m VL w.

ME E G TYPE Sept. 30, 1952 L. ILL R l UNIDIRECTIONAL WIR RINDER oF E DRAGGED woRKPIEcE AND MET D '7 Sheets-Sheet '7 Filed Dec. l, 1949 INVENTOR.

Patented Sept. 30, 1.9502

UNIDIRECTION AL WIRE OFFICE GRINDER F THE DRAGGED WORKPIECE TYPE AND METHOD Louis Illmer, Cortland, N. Y. Application December l, 1949, Serial No. 130,459

38 Claims. 1

This invention pertains to novel controls and improved structural features for a heavy duty horizontal grinder to meet the needs of steel wire mills or similar heavy duty requirements. My machine is particularly adapted to efficiently handle a long coil length of initially hot rolled alloy steel rod stock for subsequent wire drawing needs and to rapidly impart a fine finish thereto of high grade quality at a relatively low processing cost.

Multiple slowly advanced abrasive tapes or the equivalent fast cutting tool agencies may herein be effectively utilized to superiicially treat reelable cross-sectionally circular strand or the equivalent rod stock of relatively large diametral size that is preferably dragged through one or more grinder head means in a closed travel circuit or endless loop by the employment of my perfected reeling equipment and associated plural grinder head members. To this end, fast-cutting paper-backed abrasive roll tape may be slowly advanced toward its centralized grinder zone to ultimately become commercially devitalized and substantially spent in repeated successive pass stages through such zone in order to more completely utilize the available tape life.

Laterally pliable ferrous rod stock or the like wire forming material may be unidirectionally reel dragged in a comparatively cold state at a relatively high optimum velocity to penetratively cut such treated workpiece stepwise in successive passes, the selected workpiece travel rate alone serving to furnish the desired lengthwise stroking for penetrative grinding without producing deep cut scratch marks in order to realize a high grade ultimate finish without need of additional abrasive treatment.

A long rod or wire batch may be recurrently stored upon my solitary reel in single layer formation without allowing such endless stock to become snarled into hunched formation that may interfere with freely unwrapping the same from Iiats or pits in order to obviate excessive die wear and to reduce other fabricating expense in attaining a superiicially' finished wire product of high grade quality.

The present innovations are intended to supplement certain structural features shown in my prior patent application, Serial No. 791,494, as filed December 13, 1947, that issued October 9, 1951, as Patent No. 2,570,953. The object of the instant contribution is to elaborate on the grinder head appurtenances, the solitary tractor reel and its stator design, also on other refinements that will hereinafterbe more fully set forth.

In hot rolling tough rod `stock from a billet into 300 to 400 lb. batch lengths, particularly when working at reasonably high rolling mill speed with circular alloy steel stock having its tensile strength annealed to about 100,000 lbs.`

passes through the die block of a supplementary wire drawing bench to impart a more uniform profile to such defective rod stock by slightly reducing its diametral size from about to, about gauge. The rod batch may thereupon be operatively installed onto my grinder machine reel into a welded endless ,loop formation and made ready for efficient further diametral reduc-v tion by tape grinding means preferably embodied in a rotary head that circumscribes a reel dragged workpiece. The linear velocity imparted to such installed one-piece batch may herein be dragged at several thousand feet per minute through co-v acting multiple tapes, each preferably a" in width. o

Such pressure backed, slowly fed tape is made self-compensating as regards its in feedA toward the workpiece in order to maintain a substantially uniform cutting quality. Annealed high carbon steel rod stock of about 578 in size nor# mally requires a radial grinder cut depth of less than 0.008" to remove about eight percent of its batch weight in order to displace all decarbonized surface metal and to otherwise prepare a pitfree core metal finish. Such processing expedites wire drawing at a relatively fast drafting rate without need of further abrasive treatment to preserve the original ground rod characteristics. The coarser the allowable tape grit, the correspondingly higher will be the attained metal removal rate per cu. in. of spent grit.

Such processing is purposely conned to a period while the rod still possesses considerable gauge size and prior to nal wire drawing as kept at a small superficial area per pound of rod stock which in turn curtails stock wastage. After being drawninto wire, the surface magnitude becomes considerably augmented and hence would require more abrasive tape to effect a given reduction in batch weight. Abrasive tape may generally be considered commercially spent after about one-half of its original grit depth has been utilized for metal cutting purposes.

Rod stock rolled to larger than 9;/8 gauge usually becomes increasingly difficult to crimp and readily set about a reasonably small sized reel. The rod treatment herein taught readily admits of economically fabricating alloy steel wires of gauge. The permissible linear drag velocity for reeling such Wire is somewhat restricted over smaller Wire sizes but not to an abnormal extent.

It is pointed out that vby the use of my unidirectional reeling system, the coil set is pur'- posely confined to four single-acting or simultaneous one-Way crimps per batch pass which in turn results in a substantial power saving over conventional reeling methods where heavy duty, fast running rod stock is concerned.

Abrasive roll tape that is linearly advanced tangentially of reeled rod stock, also affords a decided advantage in cost per sq. in. of available grit area over lap-spliced tape belts of the comparatively shorter high speed endless type. The latter are also more likely to suifer incipient tear by grit crack or the like defects when rapidly brought into a sharply crimped cutting zone disposed to embrace a reeled strand. Such disposition calls for the use of finer mesh grit at a correspondingly larger expenditure thereof to satisfy given rod grinding needs;

My tape feed controls also permit of penetratively grinding down larger sized rods and then cold drawing'the same by the so-called patented process Without rod annealing upon being hot rolled. Such process involves an increased number of workpiece passes to effect a prescribed reduction in batch weight. For most efficient fabrication, the rod stock should in any case be preground to realize a refined and uniformly sized cold drawn wire product at a relatively y:

Unannealed alloy rod stock high drafting rate. is inherently hard to handle and requires augmented drawbench power for a given gauge size. In addition, roll tape may be more compactly stored within rotating head confines and made to abrade a considerably greater number of successive rod batches of a fixed weight Without need for frequent extended grinder shutdown for replenishment of the tape supply.

Reference is had to the accompanyingseven sheets of drawings directed to such revised exempliflcation, and in which dra-wings:

Fig. 1A shows a partial top or plan view of the fore portion of my novel grinder assembly equipped with a unidirectionally driven primary reel and cooperating stator means therefor, and Y Fig. 1B represents the aft end view of such grinder unit. Y

Figs. 2A and2B respectively depict corresponding elevational side views of Figs. 1A and 1B.

Fig. 3 is a face view of one of my rotatable grinder heads as seen from 3-3 of Fig. 1A, the face cover being removed.

Hg. 4 presents an enlarged detail of the centralized grinder zone region of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 shows a top view of a driven head spindle assembly or unit having a chambered disc aiiixed to each spindle end of which one such is cross-sectionally detailed as taken along 5 5 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 6 reveals in enlarged scale, the slip hub details of my tape offtake bobbin; and Fig. '7 is an enlarged partial side view of Fig. 4 and which in perspective, details one of my com- Y plementa-ry tape backing shoes.

Fig. 8 shows in partial cross-section, a rim fragment of my solitary tractor reel rim and its associated stator rings as taken along '8 8 of Fig. 1A, and

Fig. 9 is a reel slot bolt detail taken along 9-9 of Fig. 1A.

Referring more specifically to Figs. l and A2, such gri-nder assembly preferably comprises a smooth faced tractor reel I il devoid of rim grooves that may be carried by a horizontal main axle II that spans mated bearings such as Ig2. Each bearing may be superimposed upon a pedestal `I3 erected on base plate vmeans such as the pair of channeled rail sections IGA and MB that may extend in parallelism throughout the length of my grinder assembly as shown.

A primary gear type motor ISA of the inbuilt speed reduction type may comprise a gear casing ISB and have its slow speed outlet shaft coupled directly to o ne reel axle end. 'The oppositely extending special armature shaft of such motor may be equipped with an additional spur reduction gear IEC that is Aintended to be intermittently operated by a relatively small vsupplementary motor IBA shiftably mounted on the skids I 5C and having a pinion IBB. The latter is adapted to selectively mesh with or be disengaged from the gear ISC. When actively combined, the last named gear operates through the reduction gears 15B of the primary motor. The shift movement imparted to said pinion may be made to roller actuate a Wiper safety switch or circuit breaker ISD that cuts out current ow to the primary motor ISA during the interval the said pinion is operatively engaged. This motorized axle drive is such tha-t my reel may be rotated at two different speeds of which the slower may be utilized to replenish a completed endless wire batch in a manner presently to be described.

My tractor reel assembly is preferably provided with a cast iron -sleevelike rim lsection HA whose respective interiorly bored end regions are afiixedly centered upon the reel axle I I between the latters outboard bearings by a pair of axially interspaced support pulleys I'IB and IIC `(see Fig. 8). One sleeve end' region may comprise an exteriorly turned coil gripping length I'lD preferably but not necessarilyof uniform cylindrical size which is shown stepped radially inward by a shallow concentric ledge ITE. The other sleeve end may if desired terminate in a flanged conically flared enlargement I'IF with respect to its contiguous neck dimension given to medial body region HG. The exterior of such body region may be embraced by an aluminum or the like sheath IIH 4that affords an inherently low coefficient of friction.

A minor coil group I 9A of my endless workpiece I9 may be grippingly coiled about the unsheathed rimsection I1D. Such coil group is herein 'automatically thrust axiallyy by rotation of the driven reel and over the annular ledge lIIlillr which thereupon slackens the remaining coil ten-A completed wire batches.` While Fig. 8 shows my longitudinal rimprofile as supercially stepped, this may be kept straight-faced, particularly as applied to a short batch length.

Referring Ynow to the 'improved camming means by which said last laid coil may continuously be pushed axially, this preferably comprises a series of angularly distributed ball bearing, wire shifting rollers or the like camming means such as 20A, 20B, etc. that may respectively be collectively mounted upon stationary ring-shaped carrier or principal stator 2IA and which rollers may be distributed about the entire stator perimeter. This ring may be adjustably erected upon certain of my base rails such as MA 'by reversed wedge blocks 22A and 22B. Upon being firmly bolted into place, they allow the exterior of said carrier to loe rigidly supported in arcuate circumscribing registry with the reel axle II. Radial gauge rod means 23 (see Fig. 2A) may be used to align the face of the reel section IID with the tangential pads 33 on said stator.

Such stationary roller carrier may be kept interspaced endwise from its contiguous reel end (see Fig. 8). An offset bracket arm having an individual pad flange 24 may be demountably bolted to retain each of my liftable, relatively fiat antifriction rollers 20A, 23B, etc. whose respective perimeters may slightly overhang the rim section IID as shown. Each such spring backed roller may be mounted to slidably retract upon a headed'guide pin 25 to .clear the reel should its rim fail to run concentrically. This series of fiat rollers may be progressively advanced spirally around the entire perimeter of the principal stator 2IA in the reel axis direction by suitably selected flange shims 26 that collectively compensate for the maximum expected gauge size of the prelaid reel coil windings.

When the primary reel is rotated by the motor IEA, the cited roller arrangement automatically causes the last laid reel coil to be uniformly and slowly thrust laterally whereby the previously laid reel gripping coils are successively pushed over the stepoi ledge I1E at a comparatively lowr shift velocity. All such coils are herein subjected to a substantially continuous rather than intermittent lateral shift movement that substantially obviates the need for setting up of a high static friction coefficient to repeatedly initiate successive coil shifts. Hence the distributed roller disposition facilitates the desired axial shift on part of my contemplated numerous reel coils at a minimum of thrust requirement. lFor heavy duty service, a considerablev number of distributed high speed rollers are usually needed to absorb an accompanyingv heavy thrust without involving ball bearing overload and still be able to exert a combined thrust absorbing effort suicient to handle %l" alloy rod stock as prewrapped around a' tractor reel of some 6 ft. diameter by 4 ft. long.

In` order to'prevent an aggregate thrust of such magnitude from reaching the reel axle I I, I may further provide for a substantially identical but opposed secondary stator 2IB at the other end of the tractor reel equipped with a plurality of counterbalancing thrust rollers such as 21. These non-retractible rollers may collectively bear against the remote reel face end and be separately bracketed to their stator 2IB as shown.

The parallelly mounted stators ZIA and 2IB may further be provided with complementary ear lugs 3B having multiple stay rods 3l interbraced therebetween to constitutey a laterally rigid cradle. Upon removal of the wedge blocks 22A and 22B, said cradle maybe bodily rocked about its axisA to manually bring a particular roller pad 33 into an accessible servicing position.

As elaborated upon in the aforesaid pending patent application, my reel perimeter is preferably given a diameter kept in a certain optimum relative to the treated wire size to allow of repeatedly imparting a limiting crimping stress without undue fatigue and still have the wire set to snugly hug the coil` gripping section i'ID of a fast running tractor reel of comparatively small size. y

The abraded stock or workpiece I9 is preferably treated in a closed circuit or endless loop of which the abutting ends are smoothly welded together. In Figs. 1A to 2B', a reel leaving region of such loop may be carried off the bottom of the tractor reel to a pedestal mounted idler sheave 28 preferably of the skewed axle type arranged to laterally divert the returning Wire into alignment with the tandem grinder heads 32A,v 32B, etc.,

as shown.

Such sheave may be provided with one or more wiretensioning jacks 35 that bodily shift the sheave axle. It is preferred not to excessively tension the looped wire as it enters the tandem grinder heads. In order to .countercrimp and rectify such entering wire as preset to the idler sheave, resort may be had to a triple roller straightener device 36 (see Fig. 1B) of which the intermediate roller position may be adjustably organized. Said straightener may be combined with a wire clamp 36A as used for work-v piece replenishment purposes. The tension which the driven tractor reel normally exerts upon its oncoming wire then becomes equal to the total head drag plus an initial moderate tension imposed by the jack 35. As will be understood, the collective width' of all advanced tapes is a measure of such total head drag after allowing for internal wire crimp losses.

rIhe balanced mated or long travel-range thrust screws of my dual jacks such as 35 are respectively located upon opposite sides of the strand redirecting sheave 28 and which screw jacks are shown chain interconnected for simultaneous adjustment to self-lockingly retain the pulley axle in a maintained acute inclination to the horizontal tractor reel axle II. It will be obvious that the worm screw drives of such jacks may likewise be simultaneously actuated by a remotely controlled electric motor of the reversible type by which to more rapidly establish any desired tensioning of the workpiece and thus accelerate the productive rate of my grinder machine. v

The bottom region of the secondary stator 2 IB may sustaina comparatively few spirally stepped strand guide rollersr as 31A, 31B, etc. serving to Work the -next adjacent reel coils lup-grade along the frustro-conical'rim section I I-'Ilil prior to leaving the tractor reel 1.0. An augmented Wire tension is thereby built up that approximately conforms to that imposed by the setting Yof the jack adjustment. If preferred, said conical rim formation ll'F may be eliminated without need of the strand guide rollers 31A, 31B, etc. by directly returning a portion of the wire loop i9 obliquely onto the bottom of the sheave 28.

The wrapped length of my reel installed wire batch may be successively treated in relatively long or short mill run lengths. A reel leaving portion of such length course may be diverted over the guide pulleys 371A, 31B, etc. for delivery from the remote end of the tractor reel as indicated in dotted outline. When used, said guide rollers may be propped conjointly with certain of the thrust rollers 27 in the fashion represented in Fig. 8.

A skeletonized stand or superstructure for mounting my grinder heads in tandem may `comprise a dual set of interspaced rolled uprights of structural steel such as 38A, 38B, etc. that may rest upon sole plate rails. Each such set of uprights may serve to prop the laterally spaced horizontal Stringer beam 39A or 39B of rolled channel shape.

As detailed in Figs. 3 to 5, complementary narrow bracket castings 40A and 40B may aflixedly span said beams to support the pair of interspaced spindle bearings 40C and 40D. Corresponding ends of said brackets may be integrally extended upwardly into` risers as shown, .to carry demountable bearings for a head drive shaft 4l and a parallel tape feed shaft 42. One

end of the shaft 4l may be directly connected to the gear motor 43 while the opposite ends of the shafts 4l and 42 may be suitably geared to run in unison and thus feed the tape advance at a very slow rate crosswise of the wire axis.

A comparatively short tubular head spindle 44 operatively runs in the bearings 40C and 40D and each spindle end has a similar chambered circular head 32A or 32B reversely affixed to respectively include a disc wall or web plate 45A having a circumscribing rim iiange 45B. Such spindle may be gearedto run from the shaft 4I. Loosely mounted about said spindle intermediate each such head and an adjacent spindle bearing, is a twin spur or sun gear 46 driven from the feed shaft 42.

The open mouthed edge of the rim flange 45B may be countersunk for the centered reception of abutting semicircular closure panels of transparent sheet plastic, glass or the like pane 4l which may be demountably retained in place by multiple fasteners to seal the head chamber against dissipation into the surrounding atmosphere of Waste stock and spent grit. Such closure components may each provide for a grip handle and be centrally apertured to mount a replaceable split wear bushing 48 that guidingly passes the endless workpiece I9 therethrough.

Said transparent panels permit the condition of the threaded tapes to be readily inspected while the rotating heads are intermittently shut down. When opened, accumulated entrapped surplus of ground particles may from time to time be dumped into individual storage pans 49 upheld beneath the stringer beams 39A and 39B.

Mounted within each head chamber are opposed duplex tape advancing feed rollers 50. each comprising a keyed roller shank 55A that may be overhangingly journaled through a boss xed on the disc 45A. The bearing end of the .shank 50A is provided with a driven planetary head gear I53B arranged to mesh with a sun gear .46.

Between each feed roller and its disc boss. there maybe interposed a narrow compensating spur gear '5I aflixed to rotate with the feed roller. An intermediate idler gear 52 may mesh in registry with said compensating gear for tape takeup purposes, the hub of such idler gear being shown partially inset into a socket in the wall 45A. The feed roller may also be provided with a pair of end anges such as 5,3 of which one may be demountably retained by a snap ring 54. The exterior of the feed roller 50 may be sheathed by a yieldable tubular sleeve 55 to fortify the frictional grip of the tape trained therearound. A radially spring pressed auxiliary roller 56 acts in a like capacity.

Each feed roller cooperates with its own tape supply bobbin 57A or 51B and a corresponding complementary tape oitake bobbin 58 that are al1 compactly installed within the confines of my chambered head. A separate roll of abrasive tape 59 is withdrawably mounted on each supply bobbin with its grit face exposed outwardly. Said mated bobbins are both pin mounted and otherwise rendered interchangeable. Such tape supply is carried over the driven feed roller sleeve and diverted by the idler or tape roller 60 to deliver tape through my centralized grinder zone 83 to its oiftake bobbin 58 0n which the grit again faces outwardly by virtue of the interposed reversing or idler gear 52.

Inthe grinder zone vicinity, the travel path of one such tape is purposely kept in a fixed acute divergent inclination a (see Fig. 3) to the course of its mated reversely dragged tape as shown in order to centrifugally unload loose ground particles without restraint that might otherwise tend to become clogged near the abrasive zones although the head is being rapidly rotated.

I-t is preferred to compactly inbuild into each grinder head, dual sets of similar tape feeding mechanisms that respectively lie within the semiciroular face connes of a common web disc 45A as in Fig. 3. A tape feed roller 58 is shown located in one cusp region of such face confines and a mated feed roller opposed thereto lies in linear alignment with the centralized cutting zone 83 having the workpiece threaded therethrough. The supply bobbin 51A or 57B and its corresponding offtake bobbin 58 are offset radially to one side of such linear alignment. An idler or tape redirecting roller 5B is so located in the other cusp that the acute angle a formed between a feed roller perimeter and its adjoining idler roller perimeter is purposely kept constant with respect tothe apex or origin of such divergence.

Referring to Fig. 6, it will be observed that the .hub of my oiftake bobbin 58 may be telescopically sectionalized to comprise a pair of axially shiftable conical tubes 6I and 62 of which the inner element 5I is free to rotate about the overhung pin 53 having a bobbin retaining collar 63A thereon. Such element 6| is affixed to a spur gear 54 that may mesh with the aforesaid idler gear 52. When the feed roller 50 advances tape from its supply bobbin to a cooperating takeup bobbin,. the gearing interposed therebetween serves to rotate said inner tube element at a diiferential rate dependent upon the amount of tape that has been transferred to the oitake bobbin. The tape advance by the feed roller is however kept constant so that its abrasive rate may be uniformly maintained during a fixed unidirectional reel speed. A series of compression springs such as.65 thrust against the end of one such tube whereby by relative tube slip or overtravel, the spent tape tautly follows up as fast as it becomes released by the feed roller. Said conical slip connection further facilitates the dragging of a replacement tape through my grinder zone.

rThe opposite ends of the takeup bobbin 58 are preferably anged as shown to stack itsoncoming spent tape in aligned roll formation. The workpiece drag exerted upon my opposed relatively wide tapes when passing through their respective grinding zones, tends to laterally shift such tapes longitudinally of the wire axis, hence one rewound tape edge may vbecome unduly crowded toward a contiguous bobbinflange. To correct such faulty performance, the supported end of the bobbin pin 63 maybe tiltably disposed by a bolted iiange 51 having a rectilinear lobe 98 that may-rockably bear exteriorly against the head disc A to constitute retaining means for setting the tilt of said pin. Such mounting permits of adjustably inclining said pin to equalize the drag tension along both tape edges without incipient tear. The same result may be obtained by imparting a slight taper to the feed roller sleeve 55 to bring about axial tape creep toward the divergent taper end, particularly when the reel id is made to run unidirectionally.

The spent tape as wrapped upon the takeod bobbin may have a metallic core bushing or the like reenforcement 69 aixedly inserted into the bore of its roll tape. A slotted core tube end may register with a dowel carried by the outer tube G2 to facilitate bobbin withdrawal. partially spent roll tape may then be readily interchanged to serve as a transferred supply bobbin.` Such retrieved abrasive may still possess a considerable cutting capacity. By stocking alternate grinder heads with virgin tape and with such partially dulled tape, their combined cutting action 'is likely to be reduced to about three fourths but such practice cuts the virgin grit requirement to approximately one half.

Should a previous supply bobbin become substantially depleted, my Irotary ginder heads may be shut down to remove an outer bobbin flange such as 58 (see Fig. 6). After snipping a tape end region, its remaining abrasive roll may be freely withdrawn endwise. By now reversing the severed roll tape ends and remounting the same in interchanged relationship with a contiguous lfitted offtake bobbin, overlapping ends of each newly conjointed tape may be clipped together to establish a reversed travel path through its original grinder zone. If preferred', other sets of my duplex bobbins may likewise be interchanged,

all tape rolls in accordance to my improved method being wrapped on their respective bobbins in one and the same direction. Such dual stepwise tape utilization is preferably achieved by the use of the reversing gears 52 as interposed between the drivenfeed roller 50 and its mated bobbin gear 54 (see Fig.' 5). If desired my mode of repeated grit treatment may be extended to include more than two tape passes without having to withdraw the interposed tape from its backing jaws.

It is further expedient to presoak all supplied roll tape in a solution of oilor the like uid in order yto realize to a certain degree the enhanced cutting quality afforded by Wet over dry grit grinding. A raised platform 10 'may be disposed along the drive shaft side of my grinder heads A roll of f 10 to facilitate the cited transference of spent roll tape and other servicing.

Attention is now directed to my improved duplex grinder zone as detailed in Figs. 3 to 5. Projecting beyond each end of the head spindle 44 is affixed a bifurcated shoe bracketf One branch thereof 1IA supports a bored casing 12 containing a hollow piston 13 of which its head interiorly carries a threaded stemv extension rand which head end is further forked to transversely mount a shoe trunnion 14. A compression spring 15 or the like agency may be installed Within said casing to impose a relatively light tape backing thrust upon the treated wire.

The trunnion 14 pivotally mounts an inherently stiff shoe assembly 16 (see Fig. '1) while a similar opposed trunnion 11 is shiftably mounted by the other bracket branch 1 IB to carry another like shoe 18. My pair of superimposed tapes are operatively threaded between each inturned shoe face and their common workpiece to feed axially crosswise thereof. y l

Each opposed backing face of such shoes may be longitudinally slotted as shown to respectively have a relatively soft rubber or the like cushioning strip 19 alignedly inserted therein. The bottom of each shoe slot maybe kept square in profile to cooperate with a contiguous circular rubber shape that provides a clearance space or elongated cavity 19A into which to more readily compress such wire straddling resilient strips. A thin metallic cover plate may span each mouth of such shoe slot and underlie the tape thereof to mitigate rubber Wear. s

My illustrative shoe arrangement is more particularly adapted to handle wires in excess of la" diameter. Associated with the trunnion 11 is an offset stop flange 8| that confines in registry each pair of superimposed tapes against abnormal edgewise shift by workpiece drag.

In addition, each opposed inner shoe facernay be provided with an elongated mouth protuberance 32 to extend alongside and beyond the mated edge of its strip receiving slot to further increase the wrap of relatively pliable tape as fed into the centralized abrasive zone83. The concaved face disposition in turn correspondingly augments the cutting capacity of each grinder head in a proportionate relation to the effective contact area that can be established betweenthe coarse tape grit of a prescribed width and relatively small sized rod stock to rapidly and penetratively abrade the same at the minimum yof grinder attendance cost.

At the other edge of my strip receiving slot, an apertured shoe sideface lug may be provided to mount a fulcrum rod 86 therethrough that carries a tape guiding roller 81 at the respective rod ends. Such refinement serves to smoothly maintain the feed of a relatively` wide abrasive tape against lateral distortion when laboriously dragged toward its feed roller 50.

For treatingv wire of substantially diiferent diametrical sizes, it is preferredA to accurately l adjust the centralized interspacing between my centralized interspacing between my opposed shoe faces from the exterior of a closed grinder head. A slidable abutment rod 88 may reach radially through each head rim v45B and the bracket branch HB to shiftably adjust and fix the shoe trunnion 11 at the inner rod` tip. The outer rod end may be provided with an interposed thrust spring 89 that may be set up by the locknut to keep the dragged work piece* i9 centralized with respect to its circular head.

The other trunnion T4 may be subject to a selective degree of counterthrust by means of a radially insertable reach rod 9i. To this. end, the spring casing, l2 may have a socket-headed screw bolt 92 entered through itsv casing cover for engagement with the threaded stem extension of the piston 132. Said bolt. may be equipped with a-d'emountablecoupling 9 I A whereby to ad'- justably accommodate the tension of the spring to the needs of different sized treated workpiecesv without opening the. head panels 4T.

As a simplied alternative mode of` tape feed manipulation, next adjacent bobbins. of one of my tapes (see Fig, 3'), after having been transferably fed oiiy a trailing bobbin to substantially ll a mated leading bobbn, the motorized. tape feed may be manually or automatically timed to periodically interrupt such feed by shutting' down the drive motor 43.

During such period; any one ofi the tapes may be momentarily slackened lengthwise to' permit an operative interchange of their mated bobbins about their respective hub. pins 6 and. thereby e'ect aA spliceless tape feed reversalv withoutV having to sever either tape end region. It will be obvious that virgin grit will cut. faster than a partially spent. abrasive, the relative cutting rate being dependent upon the grit. mesh and; the degree of' its prior grit loading or wear. Where successiverod' stock. batches are held reasonably uniform in gauge. size, the abutment rod' 88 and its reach rod Si may be dispensed with.

By applying suitable timing switch means to the tape feed motor 43; I' may collectively shut down or reverse the feed direction of certain roll tapes when closely approaching one of their respective ends. SubsequentY to such. shutdown period',v my unidirectional reel preferably continues to linearly advance. its endless workpiece without. travel reversal or need for installing a new partially ground batch of bundled coils in order to eiect the completed multistage grinding thereof. Furthermore, by virtue. of my rened abrasive treatment; the repeatedly passed endless workpiece may be. ground to any desired diametralA size throughout such batch length without forfeiture of any considerable. rod end stock.k

It' now remains to describe the manner in which to successively replenish workpiece batches of diverse mill run lengths without. appreciable loss in wire stock. When the grinding of a relatively long' batch indicated in Fig. 1A, has been completed and itis desired to follow up with a relatively shorter batch,. then certain surplus coils contained in the prior batch may to advantage be removed from the tractor reel. l0. The present grinder is designed to drag a renewal batch intoA operative position at the trailing end of a precedingv batch in a one-way reeling. direction without reversal.

For such practice, a batch supply drum 94 and a batch takeoff or bundling. drum. S5 may in close4 association be4 interposed between the rst entered grinder head 32F and the idler sheave 28 (seeV Fig. 2B). The last named drum may be mounted upon a driven shaft 96 superimposed crosswise of one. Stringer beam such. as 39B and which shaft. is controllably rotated by an auxiliary motor 97. (see Fig. 1B).

As av further feature, the reel IU may be. provided with a plurality of parallelly distributed T-slots such as 98 of which one is transversely detailedin Fig. 9. By virtue thereof, a particular loosely wrapped coil embracing these undercut slotsmay be secured into a special headed T-bolt 89. A contiguous coil may then be raised by a suitable. pry tool. (not shown) into a relatively elevated. position I9* where it may be convenientiy severed by sawing or the like manner.

First assuming an initially installed batch to be longer than the next reel oncoming batch, such shorter replenishingY batch may as a bundle beV initially placed' around the supply drum 921. After severing, the original loop splice of the prior batchv by use of the clamp 36A or the like, one wire terminal may be-attaohed to the outer end of.V the supply bundle and its other terminal region threaded through the precasting or crimper device. i kept substantially identical to theY wire straightener 36, and thence attached to the driven drum 95.

By now starting the auxiliary motor 9T, the leading end of an unclamped renewal batch may be slowly dragged onwardly until its original splice to the prior. batch reaches a medial position on the reel Hl; The T-bolt 99 may now be put. into place to allow the liberated surplus wound coils of said prior long batch to be circumferentially stripped off the reel l0. While said reel' is blocked against rotation, the motor 9.1.' may in this fashion withdraw suiicient coils to permit theirv receding loose ends to be directly respliced to said reel clamped wire end. Thereupon byv` release of the clamp bolt 99, a further running ofthe motor 9-1f serves to bundle the remainder of such long batch onto the oiitake drum 95.

When these resplcedr wire ends reach a location intermediate-the drums 94 and 95, such weld maybe severed to. permit of bodily removal of the nowv whollyl bundled prior batch. A final welding together of both terminals of the renewal batch completes the installation of a shorter batch. loop made. ready for grinding when retensioned by the sheave jack 35.

On thebther hand, in the event the aforesaid shorter'batchshould be followed by a comparatively long` replenishing batch, the supplementary motor IBA may be placed into operation (in lieu thereof' the regular main drive motor 15A may be successively inched. over) to build up additional coils on. the reel I0 byl bringing the original. loop splice onto a medial portion of the reel` wherelt maybe severed. By slidably clamping one wire terminal to the reel by the bolt 99 while. the mated wire terminal is allowed to spring loose from said. reel, additional coils may be: built up to augment the reel coils. Should said supplementary motor IGA now be started up, this will. draw wire from the supply drum without delivery to the; takeoff drum until a measured number of further coils are incorporated to correspond. to a desired longer replenishing batch. The trailing, end of the prior loop may thereupon be coupled tothe leading end of such longer batch. The operation. of. the4 motor 91 will then cause all of the, initially ground short batch to be bundledv upon the oiitake drum and at the same time carry suchV coupled wire region into the vicinity of both drums. Finally, by disengaging said coupled Wire. ends and welding the longer renewa1 batch into a loop, it too will be made ready for abrasive treatment. It will be noted that all my nished batches are devoid of any intermediatef splice connections. between the ends of their iinally nished and bundled length.

When reeling. a comparatively short endless rod. batch, it is preferred to increasingly incline the lateral approach of the reel leaving coil toward the offtake roller 31A (see Fig. 1A) and thus eliminate the need for the reel slots detailed in Fig. 9.

By virtue of the relatively wide duplex roll tape aorded by each grinder head, these may be reduced to two or three rotary head pairs and with coarse grit tape still attain a fast grinder output designed to materially cut present-day attendance cost per ton of product. The fact that slowly fed 3U grid paper-backed tape may readily be utilized in multistages, also serves to reduce tape grit costs for refining heavy steel rods to as low as $10.00 per ton of product.

In addition, the first cost of my grinder unit is kept reasonably low by the abundantuse of standardized or the like catalogued machine parts; the power requirements are likewise conned within proper bounds by adequate reduction in coil crimp losses. In certain instances, a single attendant may serve more than one grinder unit.

It is believed that the foregoing rather explicit structural disclosures and their fuctional behavior, will make evident to those skilled in this art, the more outstanding commercial and operative advantage afforded by my grinder improvements, and I reserve the right to equivalently modify such illustrative design features, all without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention heretofore described and more particularly `characterized in the appended claims, it being apparent that the accompanying multistage grit cost for rod grinding may be made to drop significantly per ton of performance. Should a lesser than 8% weight reduction be required or the treatment of relatively softer metallic stock be involved, such light duty processn ing may materially lower corresponding grit costs. i

I claim:

1. A strand processing machine comprising a driven tractor reel including a rim adapted to have a group of strand coils spirallytrained thereon, cutting tool means arranged to supercially treat a reel oncoming strand portion as a workpiece, separate stator means respectively located adjacent to each rim end, stator sustained roller means reversely assembled upon each such stator means, one of the roller means serving to laterally thrust the last laid rim coil axially of said reel and the other roller means being disposed to counteract the thrust imposed upon said rim by the aforesaid one roller means.

2. A strand processing machine comprising a driven axle mounted tractor reel including a cylindrical rim adapted to have a group of strand coils trained thereon, cutting tool means arranged to supercially treat a reel oncoming strand portion as a work piece, separate stator means respectively located alongside each rim end, stepoi ledge means for the rim interposed between said stator means, thrust imparting means carried by one such stator means serving to automatically shift the last laid rim coil axially of the reel over said stepoff ledge means when the reel is rotated, and roller means for the other stator means disposed to substantially counteract the thrust exerted by the aforesaid imparting means.

3. A strand processing machine comprising a driven tractor reel including a cylindrical rim adapted to have a group of strand coils trained thereon in single layer formation, cutting tool means arranged to superiicially treat a reel oncoming strand portion as a workpiece, a conically dared enlargement for the rim region lying laterally remote from such oncoming strand portion, and roller equipped stator means whose rollers engage and direct the oicoming strand portion upwardly along said flared enlargement.

4. A strand processing machine comprising a unidirectionally driven axle mounted tractor reel including a cylindrical rim adapted to have strand coils trained thereon, cutting tool means arranged to supercially treat a reel oncoming strand portion as a work piece, ringshaped stator means located alongside one reel end, said means being provided with a series of outturned pads distributed angularly about said stator means and the face of which pads lie in substantial pro jected registry with the reel exterior, a bracket demountably superimposed on each such pad and provided with a guide pin directed perpendicularly with respect to the reel axis, and automatic roller means carried upon each such pin to partially overlie the rim perimeter, said roller series being collectively stepped from each other spirally inward from said one rim end to an extent greater than the treated strand gauge and serving to impart a maintained substantially uniform lateral shift movement throughout the length of the last laid coil when the reel is rotated.

5. A strand processing machine comprising a driven axle mounting a'tractor reel including a cylindrical rim adapted to have strand coils trained thereon, cutting tool means arranged to supercially treat a reel oncoming strand portion as a work piece, primary two-speedmotor means having a gear reduced outlet shaft directly coupled to the reel axle to run at normal speed and further having a gear carried at an armature shaft end, a supplement motor having a pinion affixed to its armature shaft, and means for selectively shifting said pinion into and out of mesh with the gear carried on the armature shaft end of the primary motor.

6. A strand processing machine comprising a unidirectionally driven axle mounted tractor reel including a cylindrical rim adapted to have strand coils trained thereon, cutting tool means arranged to supercially treat a reel oncoming strand portion as a work piece, ringshaped stator means located alongside one reel end, a T-slot extending axially of the rim exterior and the mouth of which slot is bridged by certain of the laid coils, a T-head bolt cooperating with said slot and serving to temporarily clamp a particuu lar coil toward said rim. and automatic thrust imposing means sustained by said stator means to laterally shift the first laid coil axially of the reel.

7. A strand processing machine comprising a unidirectionally driven axle having a tractor reel mounted thereon and which reel is built up as a cylindrical sleevelike rim section having bored end regions adapted to have strand coils laid thereon in combination with a pair of interspaced pulleys that affixedly circumscribe the reel axle and are respectively centered in the rim section bores, cutting tool means arranged to supercially treat a reel oncoming strand portion as a workpiece, and dual stator means respectively located alongside the opposed reel ends and which means are respectively equipped with thrust roller means sustained by and reversely assembled upon each such dual stator means, one of the roller means serving by its thrust to laterally skid the last laid coil axially of said reel and the other roller means being disposed to counteract the skid thrust imparted -upon saidrim by the aforesaid one roller means.

8. A strand processi-ng machine comprising a driven axle mounting a tractor reel thereon of which the rim perimeter -is shaped to provide for a pair of cylindrical steps of diiferent diametral size adapted to have strand coils laid therealong, cutting tool means arranged to supercially treat a reel oncoming strand portion as a work piece, means `shifting said laid coils laterally, and a sheath possessing an inherently low friction'coeicient disposed to embrace the smaller of said step diameters to facilitate coil slip therealong.

9. A strand yprocessing machine comprising a tractor reel adapted to have strand coils trained thereon, grinder head means arranged with a roll of abrasive tape that supercially treats a reel oncoming strand portion as a workpiece, said means including a disc wall carrying a gear mounting pin, a feed roller having a driven shank rotatably extending through said wall, a compensating gear afxed about the axis of the roller shank and interposed between said wall and the feed roller, anda mated idler gear mounted upon said wall pin in mesh with the compensating gear.

10. A strand processing machine comprising a tractor reel adapted -to have strand coils trained thereon, grinder head means arranged with a roll of abrasivetape that supercially treats a reel oncoming strand portion as a workpiece, said means including a disc wall, a feed roller having a driven shank rotatably extending through said wall and the surface of which roller is conically shaped to drag abrasive tape toward such conical roller surface in a maintained substantially perpendicular relation to the feed roller aXis.

11. A strand processing machine comprising a tractor reel adapted to have strand coils trained thereon, grinder head means arranged with a roll of abrasive tape that superiicially treats a reel oncoming strand portion as a workpiece, said means including a disc wall having a centralized grinder zone, a pair of interspaced mounting pins carried within a semicircular face region of said disc wall, a supply bobbin having roll tape thereon and a tape oftake bobbin respectively mounted on said pins and which bobbins are conjoined by a continuous tape portion with the grit exposed radially outward on each such bobbin, an idler roller diverting said continuous tape portion through the grinder zone, a tape backing shoe operatively impressing the grit thereof toward such zone, and driven feed roller means interposed between said zone and the oitake bobbin to draggingly withdraw tape from its supply bobbin onto the takeoff bobbin, said feed roller being equipped with compensating means to automatically abate tape slackness between said feed roller and its offtake bobbin.

12. A strand processing machine comprising a tractor reel adapted to have strand coils trained thereon, grinder head means arranged to supericially treat a reel oncoming strand portion with abrasive roll tape as a dragged workpiece, said means including a disc wall having a centralized abrasive tape grinder zone, a tape supply bobbin and a pin mounted tape oitake bobbin carried by said wall and which bobbins are interconnected by a tape portion that is dragged through said zone, the hub of said offtake bobbin being sectionalized to comprise a pair of relatively shiftable conical tube elements that are telescopically disposed, a driven feed roller serving to transferably advance said interconnecting tape portion -16 ofi the supply bobbin, 'and vcompensating gear means operatively interposed `between the feed roller and the inner conical tube element of the offtake bobbin to keep taut'the advancing tape after itlleaves its feed roller.

'13. A strand processing machine comprising a tractor reel adapted to have strand coils trained thereon, grinder head means arranged to supericiaily treat a yreel oncoming strand portion with abrasive roll tape as a dragged workpiece, said means including a disc -wall having a centralized abrasive tape grinder Zone, a tape supply bobbin and a pin mounted tape oiitake bobbin carried by said wall and which bobbins are interconnected by a tape portion that is dragged through said zone, the pin of the oiftake bobbin being adjustably -tiltable with respect to the disc wall, a driven `feed roller serving to 'transferably advance said interconnecting tape portion 01T the supply bobbin, and retaining means setting said pin into a iixed tilt position.

14. A strand processing machine comprising a tractor -reel adapted to have strand coils trained thereon, tubular head means affording an abrasive tape grinder zone kept in operative contact with a reel oncoming strand portion as a dragged work piece, an elongated pivotally mounted shoe imposing a grit backing thrust upon the tape. and a longitudinal slot registering with the tape contacting face ofsaid shoe and having a cushioning strip inset therein.

15. A strand processing machine comprising a tractor reel adapted to 'have strand coils trained thereon, tubular head means affording an abrasive tape grinder zone kept in operative contact with a reel oncoming strand portion asa dragged work piece, an elongated pivotally mounted shoe imposing a grit backing thrust upon the tape, the tape contacting face of said shoe having a substantially rectangular slot sunk therealong, and a partially receding cushioning strip inserted in said slot to leave a cavity therebetween.

16. A strand processing machine comprising a tractor reel adapted to have strand coils trained thereon, tubular head means aifording an abrasive tape grinder Zone kept in operative contact with a reel oncoming strand portion as a dragged work piece, and an elongated pivotally mounted shoe imposing .a grit backing thrust upon the tape, the tape contacting shoe face being slotted lengthwise and having a cushioning strip inserted therein that provides for a shoe face protuberance extending outwardly beyond the crosssectional connes of said cushioning strip.

17. A strand processing machine comprising a tractor reel adapted to have strand coils Atrained thereon, tubular head means aiiording an abrasive tape grinder zone kept in operative contact with a reel oncoming strand portion as a dragged work piece, and an elongated pivotally mounted shoe imposing a grit backing thrust upon the tape and providing for side face lug means together with a shoe inserted cushioning strip mounted to straddle the tape contacting region of said backing thrust and which lug means mounts a tape guiding roller thereon.

18. A strand grinding machine comprising a tractor reel adapted to have strand coils trained thereon, @hampered head means including a rim flange encircling a pair of opposed abrasive tapes that operatively contact an interposed reel-oncoming strand portion as a laterally shiitable work piece, a pair of trunnion mounted shoes that respectively impose a grit backing thrust upon each .of the opposed abrasive tapes, and rod means 'radially through the rim flange to adjustably position one of the shoe trunnions and thereby centralize said' laterally shiftable work piece with respect to the rim flange.

f. 19. A strand grinding machine comprising a tractor reel adapted to havestrand coils trained thereon, chambered head means including a rim 'flange encasing a pair of opposed abrasive tapes that operatively contact an interposed reel-oncoming strand portion as a laterally Vshiftablc workpiece, a pair of trunnion mounted shoes that respectively impose a grit backing thrust upon reach of the opposed abrasive tapes, adjustable rod means extending radially through the rim:

flange and serving to fix a shoe trunnion position, and vadjustable resilient means counterthrusting the other shoe trunnion toward such adjustably xed trunnion position.

20. A strand grinding machine comprising a tractor reel `adapted to have strand coils trained thereon, chambered head means including a rim i'lange having an open mouth arranged to embrace a pair of opposed abrasive tapes that operatively contact an interposed reel oncoming portion as a workpiece, panel means demountably covering said mouth, a pair of relatively movable tape backing shoes that thrust each such tape toward its respective grinder zone, and adjusting means extending through the rim flange for independently shifting either shoe position while said mouth remains covered.

21. A strand processing machine comprising a tractor reel adapted to have strand coils trained thereon, a superstructure including a pair of laterally spaced Stringer beams extending perpendicularly to the reel axis, a tubular spindle interposed between said beams and having a grinder head carried at one spindle end to treat a reel oncoming strand portion disposed in loop formation as an endless workpiece batch, an idler sheave serving to divert such loop through the spindle, and a bundling drum having a motor driven shaft that axially lies athwart one such beam and is supported thereby.

22. A strand processing machine comprising a tractor reel adapted to have strand coils trained thereon, a superstructure including a pair of laterally spaced Stringer beams extending perpendicularly to the reel axis, a tubular spindle interposed between said beams and having a Vgrinder head carried at one spindle end to treat a reel oncoming strand portion disposed in loop formation as an endless workpiece batch, 'an idler sheave serving to divert such loop for entrance through the spindle, a batch replenishing drum together with a motorized bundling drum carried at the end region of one such beam in interposed relation to the sheave and adjacent grinder head, said bundling drum being smaller in diametral size than the sheave, and a precrimping device located between the bundling drum and said sheave.

23. A processing machine for treating successive strand batches of different lengths and which machine comprises a driven tractor reel including a rim adapted to have a series of wrapped strand coils sp-irally trained thereon with the opposed strand ends originally spliced into continuous loop formation, cutting tool means arranged to perimetrically treat a reel oncoming strand portion of ysaid loop as a workpiece,'stator means located adjacent one end of said .rim and having a stator sustained roller thatshifts said. wrapped-coils laterally in a direction lengthwise v of the reel axis, a supply drum carrying a replenishment batch thereon, abatch oftake drum provided with controllable drive means and dis- .arranged to superflcially treat a reeloncoming strand portion as a workpiece, dual stator means encircling the reelaxle and respectively located contiguous to each rim end, saidr dual stator means being interbraced by'multiple stay rods 'mounted to constitute a rockable cradle, and

plural angularly distributed thrust roller means each independentlysustained by a demountabl'e bracket and reversely assembled upon each of the dualstator means, one of such roller means serving to laterally skid the last laid rim coil axially of 'said reel and the other roller means being disposed to counteract the thrust imposed upon said rim by the aforesaid one roller means and which cradle when rocked carries a'certainlower bracket into a relatively raised position tofa'cily itate unobstructed access thereto. Y

25. A strand grinder unit comprisinga driven tractor reel adapted to have strand coils trained thereon as a dragged workpiece component, rtubular head means having a reel oncoming workpiece portion entered therethrough, abrasive tape fed into cutting engagement with such workpiece portion to constitute a grinder zone, said head means being equipped with a rotatable supply bobbin carrying a roll of tape thereon that is tape interconnected to a corresponding oitake bobbin and which bobbins are rendered interchangeable, and tape feed means driven in unison with `said reel and serving 'during an initial tapepass to transfer roll tape from said supply bobbin toits corresponding offtake bobbin as delivered vvin a partially expended grit condition and which' bobbins are simultaneously rotated by the tape feed means in one and the same direction with the tape gritfaced radially outward relative to their respective bobbin axes, such supply and oiftake bobbins after being interchanged serving to further vdeplete the tape -grit by a reversed pass through its grinder zone.

`to leave a transferable medial tape region that subtends such rolls, said rolls as a first' step 'be'- ing simultaneously rotated at a relatively slow ltape transfer rate to partially expend vsaidfpriginal tape grit, and then as'a subsequent step further utilizing such partially expended grit in a reversed pass direction through said zone.

27. The method of processing a metallic strand that is dragged by a driven reel and linearly advanced'at a relatively rapidv travel rate and which method consists in bringing a reel oncoming rvpor- `tion of said strand into crosswise superficial cutting zone engagement with an abrasive tape initially having a virgin grit face of which the end-regionsare. respectively roll wound into identical spiral formations with the tape grit laid `outwardly and which rolls are respectivelyl car,.

ried interchangeably upon a supply:v bobbin and 'an oitake bobbin-actuated by. a driven feed roller 'further utilizingsuch partially spent grit in a 'reversed Lpass direction by bobbin interchange,

.the prevalentV ofitake bobbin being actuated by a .maintained unidirectional roller .rotation .irrespective of the tape pass direction.

28. A strand grinder machine comprising in combination a driven reel adapted to drag a batch. off endless strand directed to` travel :in a fclosed circuit as a workpiece-grinder head means 'side of said feed rollers in a common face of the web member, a separate abrasive tape having its end regions wound about such set of bobbins and which tapes respectively provideA for a spanning medial tape region extended into operative cutting-zone engagement with opposed .sides of saidv workpiece, and diametrically interspaced ytape` guide rollers whose centers lare divergently 'inclined with respect to a corresponding feed 'roller to form an angle therebetween of `which 'the reversed apexes respectively lie closely contiguous to such double acting cutting zone. and which angulardivergence widens in either div.rec-tion as-measured outwardly away from said zone.

29. A strandy grinder machine comprising in combination a driven reely `adapted to drag a batch of: endless strand directed to travel in a closed circuit as a workpiece, grinder head means including an apertured disc member having a reel oncoming strand component centrally entered therethrough, la feed roller driven in unison with said 'reel and located within the coniines of a semlcircul-ar disc face in a contiguous relation 'to one of the cusp regions thereof, a tape supply bobbin and a similar oltake bobbin respectively mounted in a radially oiset relation to the disc aperture and in an interposed relation to both c-usps of said ccnnes, a common abrasive tape fhaving its end regionsv wound respectively upon lsuch bobbins with a spanning medial tape region extended into cutting engagement with the workpiece, and a reversing gear interposed between the offtake bobbin and its driven feed roller to rotate the last named bobbin in the same direction asthessupply bobbin.

"30. A strand grinder machine` comprising in combination a unidirectionally driven tractor reel having a cylindrical rim adapted to drag a -batch of `endless strand redirected by guide means to travel in a closed circuit as a workpiece'and of 'which a strand component is laid upon said. rim lto kform` :a .groupofuprewrapped coils, and stator means located adjacent-itc one reel and vprovided `with` camming means, including` an `automatically .retractible 'roller Vof which one end face is mountedn to resiliently liftzaway froma close running reel. rim, the perimeter of said roller being 'applied in aligned `registry with a prewrapped coil to laterally skid :the last named coil toward the otherreel end.

31. A processing machine forr successively treating strand batches vof differentl lengths and which machine comprises a driven tractor reel including a cylindrical rim element provided with an axially directed Tslot sunk in the perimeter thereof and which rim element is adapted to have a series of wrapped strand coils splrally trained thereon crosswise over said slot, agrinder `head having a .reel oncoming strand portion brought into operative engagement therewith, .a headed boltinterlockingly enterable into the .rim slot serving to. demountably clamp a particular wrappedtstrand coil. vto the rim. and permitting .an adjacent coil of a previously installed batch to be raised radially from its. rim to .facilitate severing the last named coil.

32. The .method of abrasively processing in stepwise Inultistages, an endless metallic. strand that is repeatedly laid upon a driven reel in successive passes for recurrent lcoil stowage thereon, and which method consists in bringing a reel oncoming strand portion into maintained tangential cutting zone engagement with an abrasive tape initially having a substantially virgin grit face of nite length or" which the end` regions are respectively Wound in roll formation and interchangeably mounted upon a supply and an actuated offtake bobbin to leave a subtended active tape region .that is reciprocatively transferred between saidbobbins at a feed rate materially slower than the linear rate imparted to the strand whereby as. an initial step, to partially' expend such virgin tape grit throughout the major portion of its length, and then as a further. step, utilizing such partially spent tape grit in a linearly reversed grinder stage while said stowed coils remain installed about the reel until the available remaining tape grit becomes more completely spent.

33. The method of abrasively expediting in multi-stages, a relatively large gauged endless wire-making rodbatch adording a comparatively small supercial area per foot of length, said looped' rod being redirected by guide sheave means into a closed circutous travel path of which a major length component is recurrently laid during each revolution upon a unidirectionally driven tractor reel in bundledv stovaage rash-- ion and which method .consists in uninterruptedly bringing a reel cncomin-rj rod constituent into crosswise cutting zone engagement with a rotatably mounted abrasive tape providing for coarsegrit substantially virgin grit that it rotated about the entire perimeter of said constituent while simultaneously feeding such grit linearly toward said zone in unison with the reel rotation whereby as an initial step to partially deplete such grit and. incompletely reduce thel originalV rod gauge by a prescribed comparatively small degree, and then by. a supplementary grinder step grinding the aforesaid initial rod batch to a smaller gauge size by further utilizing said partially depleted tape grit without dismantling the stowedbundle oil its reel and' while the rod gauge reduction remains closely coni-ined to said'original size-without involving asignifieant combined enlargement of lits initialsupercial area perl foot of4 length.

34. The method of` abrasively processing in stepwisemultistages, a wire-making hot rolled rod batch of stock having finite ends abuttingly conjoined into an endless workpiece and which loopedrod stock islinearly dragged and redirected by sheave means into a closed circuitous travel path of which a component is initially installed 'and laid upon a cylindrically smooth unidirectionally driven tractor reel in layer formation that is laterally shiftable bodily in the direction of the reel axis and which method consists in bringing a reel oncoming rod constituent into crosswise cutting zone engagement with an abrasive tape providing a substantially virgin grit face that is rotated around the perimeter of said constituent while simultaneously feeding the engaged tape face linearly toward said zone whereby to partially complete the grinding therein and incompletely reduce the original rod gauge, and then by augmented utilization of such partially depleted grit as applied in a next succeeding stage to the same previously installed endless batch until the tape grit becomes substantially depleted, thereby further reducing the diametral sizing of said batch throughout its entire length without material rod stock end wastage, the jointed workpiece loop end regions being thereupon severed and the ground rod stock cold drawn into a smaller wire gauge.

35. The method of utilizing abrasive tape grit in multistages as applied to an endless wire-making rod batch of comparatively heavy gauge and which looped rod is dragged along a circuitous travel path of which a component is recurrently trained in layer formation upon a unidirectionally driven reel in a certain direction of workpiece traverse, and which method as one of its stages consists in bringing a reel oncoming rod con-- stituent into crosswise cutting zone engagement with an abrasive tape that is linearly advanced about the perimeter of said constituent to selectively feed grit through said zone in one pass direction, and which same tape in a subsequent stage is fed in a linearly reversed pass direction while said unidirectional rod stock traverse remains unchanged.

36. The method for abrasively processing a series of strand batches of diverse finite lengths in stepwise succession in which the respective mated ends of each such batch are conjoined to constitute a separate endless workpiece arranged to be guided into a closed circuitous travel path of which a component isindividually installed and recurrently laid upon a unidirectionally driven tractor reel and which method consists inplacing a particular reel oncoming batch constituent into crosswise cutting engagement with an abrasive tape agency until the diametral sizing given to said particular batch has been completed, then 22 severing such finished endless batch in the conjoined region thereof and introduce therebetween a next succeeding batch whereby to linearly drag said preceding batch onto a driven takeoff drum having its original batch length restored without involving substantial strand wastage.

37. A strand grinder machine comprising a cylindrically plain tractor reel mounted upon a driven axle and adapted to have laterally shiftable strand coils laid upon the reel perimeter as a workpiece initially having finite ends that are abuttingly conjoined into a looped endless batch that is guided along a closed circuitous travel path by an axle mounted skew sheave, grinder head means placed into operative cutting engagement with a reel oncoming strand portion, stator means located alongside one reel end and serving to laterally shift said coils toward the other reel end and which loop engaged skew sheave brings the reel offcoming strand portion into realignment with the grinder head means, and jack means adjustably imposing a coil tensioning effort upon the skew sheave.

38. A strand processing machine comprising a driven tractor reel including a rim adapted to have a group of laterally shiftable coils trained thereon as an endless workpiece, grinder head means arranged to supercially abrade a reel oncoming strand portion, said head means including a driven tubular spindle mounting a chambered head having an open mouth with the workpiece threaded therethrough, said mouth being closable by a segmentally split transparent panel having the strand slidably entered therebetween, and reversely mounted strand shift roller means sustained in fixed interspaced relation to the respective reel ends, one of such roller means serving to laterally shift the last laid coil axially of said reel and the other roller means being disposed to counteract the thrust imparted upon said rim by the aforesaid one roller means.

LOUIS ILLMER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,951,548 Johnson Mar. 20, 1934 1,993,543 Egger Mar. 5, 1935 2,033,393 Pallas Mar. 10, 1936 2,343,460 Illmer et al Mar. 7, 1944 2,492,221 Illmer Dec. 27, 1949 

